"I heard this from a third grader on the playground: 'What are we doing in Latin today? Translations? Yay!' I knew then that we were at an amazing school."
testimonials
Linette L. (parent)
"My father was having a GREAT time last night listening to Oliver teach us about what he is learning in his Explorations class.
Omega!
Sets!
The restaurant table was covered in drawing paper. Oliver quickly took his crayons and drew me the symbol for Omega. Then he told me he learned about sets. He proceeded to draw this: {1, 2, 3.....} and explained to us that it meant that the numbers would continue in this pattern in this set 'forever'.
He's only five. Six in May! I'm amazed and thrilled with his excitement for learning math."
Karen G. (parent)
"Both girls had a fantastic time [at summer camp]. I asked them what their favorite parts were and each said different things. One liked the fossil park and whiffle ball the best, while the other enjoyed bowling most. For them, the camp was just like school —they love going in the morning and it is hard to get them interested in coming home at the end of the day! SK continues to be wonderful for them!!"
Susan M. (parent)
"Joanna [Hastings, our head of school] has the ability to look into the souls of children and reach them on a personal level. What Joanna brings to a classroom you can’t learn in any teaching college … it is a gift with which you are born. I’ve often said that, if we could bottle the unique qualities that make Joanna the phenomenal educator she is, we’d solve many of the ills of our educational system. For Joanna, teaching isn’t an occupation or even a lifelong passion—it is the essence of who she is.
The same innate characteristics that make Joanna the outstanding educator that she is are the ones that make her an exceptional leader. She manages faculty and staff with finesse and forges cooperative relationships with students and parents that are meaningful and lasting."
Ann G. (parent of alum)
Thanks for providing such a wonderful place for our son to grow and develop. Summers-Knoll has far surpassed our expectations. And we feel incredibly fortunate for Val [the kindergarten teacher]!
Annette B.
"In my 5 years at Summers-Knoll I learned many things, all of which I can see in who I am today. Before I went to SK, I didn’t know what I was missing. In the schools I went to before it, I was treated like the average student, like the hundreds of students who had gone to that school before me. Summers-Knoll helped me realize that I was unique and independent from everyone else, and allowed me to realize who I really could be. In this way, Summers-Knoll made learning fun."
E. Dean Young (alum)
"In a few week's I'll be technically done with school. May 11th my class leaves for a three week trip to Israel, and following that is graduation. It's all gone by so fast :) I constantly am reminiscing about the nurturing environment that SK provided for me. In hindsight, I was really blessed to have such an amazing experience. Summers-Knoll middle school prepared me extremely well for a intensive college preparatory high school, and I am sure I will use all my skills gained throughout my time at SK in my future college career."
Noam S. (alum)
"I want to express my gratitude and admiration for the wonderful start Summers-Knoll has provided for my two youngest grandchildren.
One thing that most impressed me about Summers-Knoll was that the school actively discouraged the development of any sense of intellectual snobbery by its very intelligent and gifted students.
My daughter shared with me my elder granddaughter's most recent grades and teacher comments from the sixth grade at Greenhills. They blew my mind! She is at the top of her class in every subject. More importantly the comments of the teachers illustrate what I said above about intellectual snobbery. She demonstrates modesty in her interactions with her fellow students while performing superbly in all of her classes.
I attribute much of her success to her years at Summers-Knoll and look forward to my younger granddaughter following in her sister's path.
Many thanks for your contribution to the development of both of my granddaughters."
Bill S.
"Deciding to visit Summers-Knoll one August afternoon to see if it would be a good school for my daughter has been one of the most pivotal and important decisions that I have made with her as a parent. I will always remember meeting you, and standing in the sun-drenched hallway as you showed me the rooms, and explained the curriculum to me. I felt like I was in a magical place of my imagining. Since attending Summers-Knoll, she has blossomed and bloomed into a curious student, confident learner, and a happy child. Thank you for giving her the opportunity to attend Summers-Knoll, and for having such great teachers to make her experience at school so wonderful."
Ruth M.
"My daughters attended SK. I truly believe that SK was one of the best decisions we made for their education. Both of them are gifted, but in very different ways, and the teachers at SK were able to tap into the unique aspect of each of them to bring out a real love of learning and real enjoyment of school.
It was their mother who identified the school after a very long search in many communities (we moved to Ann Arbor to attend the school). But once I saw how special the school was, I became very involved in the school, and was on the board for three years. The school creates a very emotionally safe learning environment where all the students are given the opportunity to focus on their passions, while still incorporating the other areas of their education so that they are fully prepared to enter into High School as young independent learners.
Kate went from SK to Ann Arbor's Community High, where she has just graduated. The transition from SK to Community High was rather smooth for Kate and she jumped into many activities including being one of the editors of the school paper. Kate has been recognized by the Detroit News as one of the states top 22 graduates of 2011; we are very proud of her. She is a strong confident young adult, and we owe a lot of that to the great experiences that she had at SK. She is continuing her education at the College of Atlantic in Maine, and is currently active in the Sierra Club's Youth Leadership Program. She is one of the youngest Youth Leader Trainers (chosen by Sierra Club to be trained to run Youth Leadership Programs around the country this summer) and will be teaching in Indianapolis later this month.
Colleen will be a junior this fall at Community High and also had a smooth transition into high school. Colleen, like myself, is a little ADD and has dyslexia but is extremely creative. Prior to SK she did not like school at all, and SK created a love of learning for her. Colleen has done extremely well at Community High school, but has really excelled in the arts and music area at the Neutral Zone. She has been chosen to be part of the art council at the Neutral Zone and is working with the folks from Toyota in the redesign of the art facilities that Toyota is donating. Like Kate, SK has provided Colleen the confidence to work with adults in the community while being an advocate for teens like herself.
SK really helped to create a foundation of confidence and knowledge that has served both girls well and will continue to be their foundation for a very successful and fulfilled life."
Mike O. (alum parent and former board member)
